Central spikers' opener has midseason look

It was only the first match of the season, but the Central Christian volleyball team looked in midseason form Tuesday evening against visiting Triway.

Central did a little of everything and did it all mostly well -- serving, passing, hitting and blocking -- en route to taking apart the Titans 15-8, 15-4.

"I was real pleased with the intensity we displayed throughout the entire match," Central Christian coach Fred Miller said. "We didn't have a whole lot of unforced errors and that's something you like to see this early in the season.

"We've played in stretches during our scrimmages, but what I really liked was the consistency we showed tonight. There weren't many times when we really killed ourselves with mistakes. In volleyball, if you don't beat yourself, you've always got a chance to win."

Triway coach John Buchholz can attest to that after watching his squad repeatedly stymie itself with errors, most notably coming on the Titans' serve receive.

"That was my main concern in the preseason and that's exactly what killed us tonight," Buchholz said. "Obviously that's going to be our focus in practice this week and if we get it together we'll be OK. If we don't then we're in trouble.

"When we did pass the ball well we had a pretty strong offense. Chanel (Starr) hit the ball well, Tori (Tausch) put some away and Amanda (Troutman) came out of nowhere to really contribute. Our problem was just getting them the ball."

Central set the tone early by jumping to a 3-0 lead in Game 1 behind the serving of Stephanie Miller. The hosts extended their lead to 9-3 on three straight points off Kendra Ramseyer's serve. Triway closed to 10-6 on one of Starr's team-high five kills and an ace by Stacy Patterson, but Central regrouped to get to game point thanks to four straight points, one courtesy of a Liz Zaleski kill, on Jenny Weaver's strong serve. Central eventually closed out Game 1 on a Titans' hitting error.

Triway put together its strongest stretch of volleyball to begin Game 2, roaring to a quick 3-0 edge off Patterson's tough serving. The Titans immediately allowed Central back into the game with four consecutive misplays, and the hosts never looked back. After taking a 4-3 lead on Stephanie Ramer's serve, Central ratted off 11 of the next 12 points to take the victory.

Senior Michele Johnston and sophomore Jean Boen each dished out six assists sharing time as Central's primary setter. The duo's performance was a welcome sight for Miller.

"Coming in I thought our hitting was going to be a strength," he said. "We're trying to run a fairly complex offense, at least more complex than what we ran last season. We've got the hitters to do it, but the question was whether our setters could keep up. We've got a sophomore setter and a senior who didn't set last season. Considering what we're trying to do, I felt they did a nice job tonight.

"We've got a lot of young players out there and I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was very pleased."

Miller also was extremely pleased with the return of Karmen Steiner, who paced Central with seven kills. Steiner missed the majority of last season after injuring her left ACL and is playing this season with a brace for support.

"Karmen's a gamer. She's played well in the preseason but not like she did tonight," Miller said. "When she got hurt last year she was just playing tremendously well and she played like that in this match. It's been a long road back for her."

Patterson paced Triway with six points and 11 assists, while Tausch contributed four kills and Troutman three in a losing effort.